March 2011 - we made it!

[Muser]

The waiting is over, the babies are arriving. March 2011 mums, come on in your time is up.

[NowPanicAndFreakOut]

Hi Muser - can't wait to be able to join this thread! Hope all is going well for you and baby.

[Medee]

[sittinghippo]

Marking place! See you all soon xx

[Larty74]

marking my place! hope to be here very soon!

[KPidgeon]

Hallo- thanks for sorting this Muser. Hope to join you guys sooner rather than later too!

[jeffily]

well done muser! typing one handed while feeding dd2. had my last mw visit today, she's put on 9oz in the week we've been home. that's dd, not the mw! alredy out of the tiny baby clothes that dd1 seemed to wear for weeks. can"t believe she's 10 days old already. how"re things with you & dd?
looking forward to welcoming hoardes more of us as March rolls in!

[chickiewoo]

Marking my place too! Thanks Muser for setting this up for us. Love to all xxx

[Muser]

We're doing well jeffily. Had midwife appointment today and she's not growing quite as fast as yours! But she's gained back the little bit of weight she lost plus an extra oz, now 6lb13. Still a bit jaundiced so we have to go and have tests for that on Tuesday.

She's feeding like crazy at the moment so I'm expecting her to grow and grow. I have to try and grab sleep when I can as she seems to think 11pm-3am is a good time for cluster feeding!

She's so adorable though and makes me laugh a lot with her funny faces and noises. When it's not 3am and she's going insane for a feed, trying to latch on to everything in sight, I just have to laugh lots at her.

[EvianBaby]

Hello all

Lovely to hear how you're both doing muser and jeffily.

Can't wait to join you properly on 'this side'! Any ideas of how to get this baby out are welcome!

Take care everyone

[Niknan]

Marking my place. Glad to hear all is going well muser and jeffily.

[jeffily]

Just back from registering her birth! Was all a bit rushed as got half way there and suddenly thought that we might need some proof of who we are- so I headed home and got passports while DH carried on with DD1. Ended up 10 mins late and DD1 wailing through most of it. You don't need any proof of ID to register a birth! Guess they assume you are who you say you are.

Anyway, she is now a 'real' person with a birth certificate and everything. Went out for some lunch afterwards to celebrate but now DH has gone off to the W country to start his new job and I am home alone with the 2 of them till Friday. Also looks like we are going to be making the move next Friday/Saturday so have to pack up our flat and get it cleaned and sorted. Am not sure how I am going to manage it all, but I just have to not panic and get started I'm sure. It'll be ok . Did a massive cull of books (I find this very hard as I am a terrible hoarder) but still have four boxes full and haven't even tackled the picture books in DD1's room yet.

DD2 slept for a three hour chunk last night! Felt wide awake when she woke at 6 for a feed, but thought that I had just shut my eyes for a moment and it was 8am! Thank goodness for my wonderful DD1 who seems to be taking everything so much in her stride.

[jeffily]

PS Evian I found that being 100+ miles away from the place that I wanted to give birth was a good way of encouraging my waters to break! Joking aside, get quaffing that raspberry leaf tea...

[jeffily]

Probably writing to myself here, but DD1 is at nursery today and DD2 is currently asleep so I can type 2 handed! No news really except downstairs are drilling holes in their walls again (for the 15th day running!) so I can forget having a nap which is what I want to do. Grrr

[Muser]

I'm here. I have a baby asleep on my lap. The feeding seems to have calmed down a bit, which is very nice. We got 4 hours sleep last night, 1.30-5.30! And then a 2 hour sleep this morning. I feel like a new person! Hope the drilling stops soon jeffily.

[EvianBaby]

Hi jeffily and muser - yes, fab idea! Will plan a road trip to the most inconvenient place this weekend, see if I can get this baby moving!

You both sound v happy - lovely to hear!

[pettyprudence]

I'm also taking a tip from the Jeffily school of birthing and also planning a trip 130 miles from home a week on saturday. Not sure if I am cheating though, and baby will not be fooled, as I am going to my parents house. Fingers crossed it works though!

[Muser]

How's everyone doing today?

[jeffily]

Hi Muser

All is well here. Leila decided to get up every 90 mins through the night last night, and only did a 3 hour stretch at the end of the night when she was asleep on my chest . SO feeling a bit tired today, and am trying to get the house packed up ready for the move. Feeling a bit grumpy with DH who is moaning quite a lot about feeling like he has had no sleep, altho he appeared very asleep when I was changing nappies/feeding last night!

Going to give Leila her first bath today when DD1 naps.

Hope you have a nice day!

[Muser]

Hope she has a better day today jeffily. We had some nights like that last week.

We had the postnatal clinic today and have been discharged now, so over to health visitors. I'm very happy as LO's weight has gone from 6lb13 to 7lb1.5 in the week. Nice to see the feeding is paying off.

[Jenchandler]

Hello Hello

finally got around to joining in!

Got rid of visitors etc and it is finally me, HB and Isobel for the night! She sleeps dreadfully at night, won;t settle in her carrycot at all. she'll only sleep on one of us. Which means around 3 hours sleep a night. Any top tips to get her to settle?

She's also jaundiced and a bit sleepy with it! Desperately doing what the MW said and feeding every 3 hours but as she is sleepy shes not latching on fantastically! MW returning tomorrow so will see what she thinks - Izzy had already lost 8% of weight on day 3 and I'm sure we'll have hit the dreaded 10% tomorrow. Eeek!

Anyway rant / moan over!

Muser - glad to hear your LO has gained weight! Have a good evening all xxx

[Muser]

We had the same sleepy problem here Jen. Strip her down to her vest to feed her, being cooler will wake her up. Lots of hand rubbing while feeding as well.

I also expressed a tiny amount and cup fed to wake her up enough to latch on. After 2/3 feeds I didn't need to do that as she was much more alert.

[jeffily]

Yay! Hi Jen. Great to hear how you are getting on.

Well, I am being spoilt by DH as he is away for the rest of the week and I am still in bed with a cup of tea and Leila asleep beside me and he is up with DD1 scoffing toast.

DD1 had jaundice, I remember being ever so worried about the feeding and trying to wake the sleepy baby to feed. No easy and all a bit stressful, I feel for you both. I'd mirror Muser's advice Jen, also you could try changing Izzy's nappy before you feed (and I used to use cold water for extra wake-up effect, not freezing but not warm. Seems a bit mean now, but really needed her to feed!) and rubbing her feet. Also sort of expressing a bit of milk into her mouth while your nipple is still in there will remind her what she is meant to be doing!

The sleep sounds scarily familiar from DD1 as well! She always wanted to sleep close to one of us. I think I'd say embrace it- this time will not last long and you are not making a rod for your own back you are just doing what ever you need to do to get through the night! See if she will take to sleeping close to you but not on you- try putting your hand on her tummy while she lies next to you. I have to say as well that I let Leila moan a bit as she goes off to sleep. Not cry, but a bit of moaning and groaning is normal. I thought that if DD1 made any noise at all she needed me, but with Leila it is the 10 minute rule- if she is still complaining after 10 mins then she needs me!
DD1 slept in with us till she was about 3 months old. Then I worked on getting her to spend most of the night in her moses basket, and by 7.5 months she slept in her own room in her own bed. Here is the mantra you will be using lots now- this too shall pass.

Hope everyone has a lovely day. xx

[Muser]

Keeping the moses basket/cot warm with a hot water bottle helps us with the sleeping. Realised the basket felt a bit cold so I pop the hot water bottle in while she's feeding and it keeps it nice and warm. That way it's less disturbing when she moves from nice warm mummy to basket.

You MUST take it out before you put the baby in though.

[Jenchandler]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the advice and support. Things have slightly picked up here - she has gained 80g. Thank god, really didnt fancy a hospital visit. She will now go down in the carry cot provided shes fast asleep and its daytime. At night time its a different kettle of fish but it is quite nice having her in bed with us so I'm not going to stress too much.

Hope all your Lo are doing well. Managed to pop to M+S and mothercare yesterday - nice to do something 'normal' as a little family!

Have a good day xx

[Hattie05]

Hi all!

Isn't it funny how they don't sleep at night! i'm sure its the silence they don't like. My house is so noisy all day long with the big sisters or tv or washing machine, and ds sleeps beautifully in his moses basket. Take it upstairs at bedtime and he kicks off and so far i've had very little sleep! Heres hoping tonight will be a better one.

Does anyone else have sicky babies? DC seems to throw up more than he's drunk at every feed. I know some sick is normal but he does masses everytime. It has looked a bit flemmy {sp?} so i'm hoping once he clears himself out it wills top. What do you think? He is only 4 days old.

Anyway i must be off to bed now! take care all x